A/HRC/25/56 populations resulting in growing rural/urban and majority/minority divides. Birth rates may decrease in increasingly affluent population groups but remain high amongst the poorest, often minority, communities, serving to perpetuate their poverty. In many countries, there are clear geographical boundaries between population groups and equally clear socioeconomic divides between population groups — commonly, minorities fall on the wrong side of such divides. 80. Population dynamics may be deeply affected by discrimination and social exclusion exercised by one population group against another. The dynamics between and across different population groups should therefore also be given greater attention. For example, conflict between communities and enforced population movement due to conflict results in internal displacement that may affect minorities disproportionately and have a greater and longer-term impact on their rights, their access to livelihood, income and basic services. Globally, millions of people are affected by displacement and they are often minorities who are numerically fewer, politically and militarily non-dominant and the most vulnerable to social and political unrest and the impact of conflict. A fundamental message of the Independent Expert is that protection of minority rights and the creation of a culture of minority rights within wider society promotes conditions of stability under which human rights and development crises and setbacks, and huge population impacts, are less likely to occur. V. Conclusion and recommendations 81. Equality for minorities is a human right and must be recognized as a core development goal. There are compelling arguments for greater attention being given to disadvantaged minorities in post-2015 development agendas and future development goals. Foremost amongst these is that globally, disadvantaged minorities remain among the poorest and most socially and economically excluded communities. The Independent Expert considers that a real risk exists that many millions of persons belonging to minorities globally will continue to be “left behind” if there is not a clear commitment at the global and national levels to address their plight as a high global development priority. 82. Minorities should be among the first targets of development strategies, yet frequently they are among the last. Lack of attention to the situations of minorities constitutes one of the most serious deficiencies in the MDG process and an important impediment to achieving certain goals in some States. Without significant and continuing efforts to raise attention to the need for solutions that work effectively for disadvantaged minorities, post-2015 strategies may continue to follow the same patterns, priorities and models that have proved to be flawed in their ability to address the development needs of disadvantaged minorities. 83. The relationship between inequality, discrimination and poverty cannot be ignored or underestimated. Tens of millions of people worldwide are trapped in a cycle of discrimination, exclusion, poverty and underdevelopment from which they cannot break out without targeted attention given to their situations. It is imperative that the United Nations and others, as they move forward to craft a new set of development objectives and targets, addresses the inequalities faced by national or ethnic, religious and linguistic minorities. 84. Despite the valuable new attention to inequalities, even within the numerous consultation reports emerging from the process, there is a tendency to place minorities at the end of a long list of disadvantaged groups or ignore them completely. The message that emerges from these high-level documents is that they are a relatively low 22